Luis Diaz is training with the Liverpool team, according to Jurgen Klopp, but he won’t play again until he “feels right.”
Due to his father’s abduction last weekend, the winger hasn’t played for Liverpool in the last two games.
In their native Colombia, the 26-year-old’s parents were kidnapped by armed men riding motorcycles. Diaz’s father is still missing, but his mother has since been found.
A significant police and military rescue operation has been launched in response to Luis Manuel Diaz’s kidnapping, but reports on Thursday night indicate that there is hope that the father of the Liverpool number seven will soon be released unharmed.
The National Liberation Front (ELN), a Colombian rebel group, claimed in a statement that Diaz’s father had been abducted without the group’s leaders’ knowledge after they were identified as the culprits. According to reports from the area, the police are currently getting ready for a coordinated meeting with the ELN to help with the handover.
Despite the upsetting incidents, Diaz has stayed in Liverpool and will be ready to play on matchdays again when he is psychologically prepared.
Before Sunday’s trip to Luton Town, Klopp made the following statement during his pre-match press conference: “He was in training two days ago, he had a session yesterday and will be part of the team.” We have to wait; he will come and train with us if he feels well.
“You could tell from the session he had with us—since we weren’t present at the time—that he gets along well with the boys. However, it was also evident that he didn’t get much sleep.
“All we need to do is check in with him and proceed accordingly. I always get the news from Colombia forwarded to me; I never received them directly. Anything that offers us a glimmer of hope is beneficial. That is essentially all that we are waiting for, barring the very best news.
“I honestly can’t predict what we’ll do because we’ll just have to wait and see where we can pick up the boy. But whether he makes himself available or not is entirely up to him, and I won’t press my luck.”
In place of Diaz, Diogo Jota started on the left wing for the Reds against Nottingham Forest last weekend, going 3-0. The forward from Portugal celebrated his teammate by running to the side of the pitch and wearing a ‘Diaz 7’ shirt after scoring Liverpool’s first goal.